“The girls are very lively and cheerful. Often they forget their sadness. They still have dreams.”

Dipa, 26 years old, is crying. She is in the second month pregnant from a customer in the Kandapara brothel in Tangail.

 

It’s not uncommon for a lot of these prostitutes to have a Babu, or a “husband” or “lover.” Hashi, shown here embracing her Babu, is one of the hundreds of exploited young and inexperienced prostitutes who have lovers while working as a sex laborer. These men, who usually live outside the brothel, sometimes have sex with them or take a cut from what remains of the 800 to 1,000 taka ($9.75 – $12.19) these prostitutes earn daily from the nearly 20 customers they service a day. The money these lovers take serves as these poor women’s “payment” for their own protection in this predominantly male society.